It’s tough to keep a secret these days. Late Monday afternoon, we learned that Schmidt Peterson Motorsports was going to have a driver announcement for the Indianapolis 500 this afternoon at 2:00 Indianapolis time. It seemed to catch a lot of people off guard – especially the way it was billed: “…the addition of a major championship winning driver to its lineup”.

Prior to yesterday’s marathon coverage of the rain-delayed Daytona 500, there was –what I thought – an unusual amount of hand-wringing over the fact that there would be a car carrying the No.3 for the first time since Dale Earnhardt was fatally injured in the 2001 Daytona 500. Some seemed to think it was too soon, while others seemed to think it should be permanently retired.

When Graham Rahal drove in his first race in the IndyCar Series at St. Petersburg in 2008, he came away with a win. It was not a fluke win either. In the latter stages, he not only held off veteran Helio Castroneves; he was actually pulling away from him – in a pouring rainstorm, no less.

Conspiracy theories don’t interest me much. I have always been convinced that there was only one shooter involved in the Kennedy assassination. I fully believe that NASA landed men safely on the moon in July of 1969 and every other time that history says they did. I also believe that the attacks of 9/11 were done by terrorists, and were not a plot by the US government. And for the record…I don’t subscribe to the theory that the US has buried nuclear reactors under the polar icecaps to cause global warming.

Friday morning, we awoke to the news that popular IndyCar driver, Simona de Silvestro, would not be returning to the series in 2014. Instead, she will be seizing upon an opportunity that she hopes will lead to what has been her ultimate lifelong dream – a fulltime ride in Formula One. She has accepted an “affiliate driver” with Sauber – one of the more established teams on the F1 grid. From what I can gather, this is essentially the role of Test Driver. Although she is hoping this will lead to a fulltime ride with the team in 2015, there are no guarantees.

This past Wednesday, one of the classiest players in baseball, Derek Jeter, announced that this upcoming season would be his last. This will be Jeter’s twentieth Major League season – all with the New York Yankees. The shortstop will turn forty this summer. He is coming off of a season that saw him spend most of 2013 on the disabled list. Jeter is widely respected by fans, teammates and opposing players.

Flickr Photos

By Susan Phillips I must be falling into a rut of posting on getting everyone to spend money while at the track. First the Bronze/Silver Badges, now let’s hit the gift shops! My favorite place to spend money is at the IMS Museum Gift Shop. It spans across the entrance of the building—one side has […]